The world's automotive capital may be getting more serious about car pool lanes.
Bills approved by the Legislature last week would authorize Michigan to have high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes.

There already is one HOV lane in the state -- a five-mile stretch of Michigan Avenue in Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge that coincides with the largest construction project in the history of the state Department of Transportation.

The lane opened in February as a pilot project, but legislative authority is needed so police can ticket violators. Use of HOV lanes is typically limited during certain hours to vehicles with two or more riders and to buses. Some states also allow solo drivers of hybrid vehicles to use car pool lanes.

Car pool lanes

CAR POOL LANES: The Michigan Legislature is considering bills that would allow the construction of high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes.

PILOT: The state's first carpooling lane already is in Detroit. Depending on how it works, the state may explore putting HOV lanes elsewhere.

CON: Critics say the lanes take up valuable road space from motorists who can't car pool.

"There's always been a love affair in Michigan with driving your own vehicle," MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck said. "But we can't build our way out of congestion. We're going to have to be more efficient."

HOV lanes exist or are planned in 46 metropolitan areas in 29 states and Canadian provinces, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Michigan has been slow to join that movement, and no specific plans for more HOV lanes are in the works. But transportation officials plan to look at whether it would make sense to add them while rebuilding the state's highways.

"We'll see how this works and start to see where else we can try," Shreck said of the pilot project.

That's a problem for Jim Walker, an insurance salesman by trade who follows transportation issues as a member of the volunteer-based National Motorists Association.

His group contends that HOV lanes are underused and take up valuable space on the road that could be used to serve the entire taxpaying public.

"We've already paid for it," said Walker, 64, who lives in Ann Arbor. "To take away existing lanes or parts of it is grossly unfair. There are a huge proportion of people who cannot do a car pool."

Backers of HOV lanes respond that car poolers and bus riders also pay taxes. When the lanes are used, they say, traffic is reduced in other lanes, as is pollution.

"Even though it may seem selective to a few, everybody else benefits because you're taking cars off the road," said Sen. Jud Gilbert, an Algonac Republican who sponsored the HOV bills that unanimously passed the Senate. The House overwhelmingly approved similar measures. The legislation could be ready for Gov. Jennifer Granholm's signature soon.

Some states have high-occupancy toll, or HOT, lanes that let solo drivers pay to avoid being stuck in traffic. The tolls vary depending on the level of congestion. There's currently little discussion about adding any of those in Michigan, even though the Detroit area has the state's oldest and busiest freeways and Grand Rapids has growing traffic congestion.

Shreck said the state will explore adding the car pool lanes only where traffic patterns suggest they can make a difference.

"We really have no interest in empty HOV lanes," he said.

In some areas it might also make sense to add rapid transit buses, he added.

The first highway HOV lanes appeared in the United States in 1969 and 1970, with more being added in the mid-1980s. They're most heavily used in places such as Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C.